We all know the story by now. Recent Huawei smartphones have abandoned Google Mobile Services due to force majeure and have fully embraced HMS (acronym for Huawei Mobile Services). It has been a year since the first device with the open-source version of Android, the Mate 30 Pro, arrived on the Italian market. Since then, the Chinese giant has made huge steps forward to guarantee its users the best experience possible. P Smart 2021 is clear proof of this. 
The new low-mid-range smartphone has accompanied us in recent weeks. In addition to the excellent autonomy and a satisfactory photographic sector, it was able to offer an excellent user experience without making us feel any lack. The solutions adopted by Huawei, from AppGallery to the Petal Search universal search system, guaranteed us everything we needed. 
P Smart 2021: the real surprise is AppGallery
Let's start from the beginning: from the configuration of P Smart 2021. Nothing has ever been so simple. The configuration procedure that occurs at the first start-up is of the most basic. After selecting the language and country, accepting the terms of service and carrying out all the classic steps we are used to, we are prompted to enter the data of our Huawei account. In case we don't have one, we can create it in a few clicks, just as we explained in the dedicated guide. 
At this point, the screen appears that allows us to quickly import data from the old device, be it an Android smartphone, Huawei / Honor or iPhone. Contacts, photos, videos, documents, apps and more are transferred in seconds thanks to Phone Clone. It is an application available for Android and iOS devices that - by scanning a QR code from the old device - transfers everything we want in no time at all. 
At this point, we just have to download the applications and enjoy our P Smart 2021. Instead of the Play Store, we find AppGallery, Huawei's proprietary app store that continues to grow at a steady pace. It is a completely different reality from that of a year ago. Banks' apps are starting to arrive, entertainment services are more and more numerous, as well as those for shopping and productivity. 
As promised, in fact, the Chinese giant has made significant investments to AppGallery to the point that - with over 506 million active users monthly - it has become a real alternative to the Play Store. In short, it is no longer just a way to plug the shortcoming that has occurred, but it is a project that now goes on regardless and is proving to have what it takes to break the duopoly represented by Apple and Google. 
Just open the app store to see how true this is. AppGallery has an intuitive interface and - from the first screen - immediately shows us the new and most popular applications. Many of which we already know. 
Let's start with the messaging applications. As for the emails, we can synchronize our accounts (whether they are Gmail, Hotmail, Yahoo, etc ...) directly in the Huawei mail client. Once we have entered our username and password, all conversations will be available to us. For instant messaging, we have Telegram or WhatsApp immediately available. The latter can be installed directly from the official website to which you are redirected if we search on the AppGallery. 
Even in the case of WhatsApp, conversations will not be lost despite the absence of Google Drive (on which the backup is usually saved) thanks to a simple procedure that we have explained in detail in another article. In short, just manually transfer the backup file from your old smartphone to the P Smart 2021. 
The applications that AppGallery hosts are really many. It has become impossible to list them all. From apps for banking and payments (including Ubi Banca, Hype, Satispay, Mediolanum, Banca Sella) to those for shopping (including Amazon, ePrice, Zara, Asos, Yoox) and for transport (Here We Go, TomTom AmiGO and Moovit), passing through those for entertainment and viewing of streaming content (including Infinity, Mediaset Play, Chili, Rai Play, Deezer).
In this regard, with the start of the football championship and the Champions League matches, the possibility of being able to use the SKY Go, DAZN and SportMediaset applications was really appreciated. A huge step forward that will please all sports lovers. In all this, there is no shortage of social apps on which we now spend most of our time: TikTok, Snapchat, Tinder and Facebook.
Your question at this point is: how to deal with apps not yet available on the AppGallery? Huawei has also thought about this by offering us two possibilities. In some cases - such as for example with YouTube - what the Chinese giant defines as a "quick app" is installed. In short, on the smartphone we will have a quick link to the web app of the service in question with all the advantages that this entails. All quick apps are managed through the Quick App Center and we can add an additional quick link on the Home.
In other cases, however, Petal Search comes to the aid, Huawei's universal search system that does practically everything: from searching for applications in different stores to news aggregators. One and only place where you can search for everything you want: music, apps, documents, results on the web and much more.
In our case, it was useful for us to install - for example - Instagram and LinkedIn. By typing the name of the app directly in the search bar, we are shown the result with the name of the alternative installation source (which will install the app via APK) and the "Install" button. Et voilà, we will have the apps we want on our P Smart 2021. In most cases, the system interfaces with the ApkPure service, the largest and most secure alternative app store.
This is easier done than said. In fact, what is surprising is the ease of use (and of providing alternative solutions) of both AppGallery and Petal Search. Even the less experienced would be able to install the apps they want extremely easily and quickly. From this point of view, we must applaud Huawei as the solutions adopted do not confuse the user in any way.
If all this were not enough, we can always resort to the desktop versions of the services that interest us. As underlined in the article dedicated to the great autonomy of P Smart 2021, for example, we can manage our video calls on Google Meet directly from the browser without any problem. In other cases, however, Zoom proved to be an excellent ally thanks to the possibility of downloading directly from the official website.
In short, every day AppGallery becomes a discovery. Just a few days ago, on the occasion of the launch of Mate 40 Pro, the Shenzhen giant announced the arrival of Petal Maps which - in the future - could replace Google Maps, and Huawei Docs, a suite of tools for editing and viewing documents. For this type of activity, we also made use of the entire Microsoft Office package, available for download directly from the official Huawei store. Without forgetting that the absence of Google Mobile Services (very energy-intensive) brings enormous benefits on battery life.
In short, the predecessors of P Smart 2021 - who have been sales champions - can be very proud of the newcomer, a smartphone that has proved to be an excellent travel companion. Top autonomy, photographic sector beyond expectations, satisfactory performance, an excellent quality display and an increasingly complete app store.
All this for only € 229.90 with 4 Gigabytes of RAM and 128 Gigabytes of internal memory. In addition, those who buy it on the official website by November 12 will receive a free pair of Freebuds 3i wireless earphones, worth 99 euros. At this figure, it's a bargain!